“Forget it… Forget it…”
Mason let out a heavy sigh, as if he wanted to exhale all the awkwardness in the air along with his breath.
He didn’t intend to investigate when or how Red had discovered his true identity.
Or rather, he hadn’t really hidden it much to begin with.
As long as Red did even a little bit of investigating, finding out who he was wouldn’t have been a difficult task.
But before Mason could speak, Red continued.
“I saw you wandering around Succubus Street with my own eyes, saying you wanted some damned Illusion Projection, and then I saw Monica pop up…”
“Pfft!!”
The moment those words were spoken, Mason’s face froze.
The veins on his forehead bulged as he argued.
“Ordering… Ordering can’t be considered wandering!”
What followed was a string of words that were difficult for anyone else to understand, such as “purely technical observation,” “researching the principles of Charm Magic,” and “strictly disciplined academic experience.”
Listening to this, Satania was completely bewildered, with metaphorical question marks floating over her head.
Red, on the other hand, looked quite cheerful.
He finally understood that watching others make fools of themselves was indeed entertaining.
Letia had not lied to him.
‘Ordering… for an Adventurer, can that be considered wandering?’
However, fortunately, as a refined, moral, and shameless Prince, Mason quickly adjusted his mindset.
He spoke up with brazen audacity.
“Besides, Monica herself didn’t say anything.”
Mason’s tone shifted, a fanatical light flashing in his eyes as he spoke with pride.
“Don’t you think sister-type characters are wonderful?”
“A sister you watched grow up, someone you know inside and out, connected by blood—isn’t that better than those women outside whose hearts you can’t read, whose relationships are unclear, and you don’t even know how many bananas they’ve eaten in the past!?”
Red fell into a long silence.
In a sense, this man was beyond saving.
Mason eventually came back to his senses.
He cleared his throat, and his face returned to a serious expression.
“I came to find you regarding Liz’s matter… Since you already know my identity, you should also realize that I am Liz’s cousin, right?”
“Yes, you mentioned it before.”
Red had a good memory; he naturally hadn’t forgotten the situation when he first met Monica.
“That’s good then…”
Mason sighed.
“In fact, I always thought that in Dawnblade, you and Liz shared the workload and handled your own affairs. But on this journey, I heard about your past from those two members of Dawnblade… I want to apologize to you first.”
Mason bowed deeply.
The expression on his face was very sincere, and the guilt and apology were clearly heartfelt.
“Wait, wait, don’t. Are you trying to shorten my lifespan by having a Prince of the empire bow to me?”
Red quickly pulled Mason up, feeling a bit helpless.
“Besides, you should know that I’ve already let go of the past.”
For Red, his past experiences were indeed terrible, but the time he had spent with the people currently around him was wonderful.
Especially Litt—that angelic gentleness really… it made Red feel that this world wasn’t as cold as he had imagined.
“Whether you’ve let it go or not, an apology must be made for doing something that shouldn’t have been done.”
A trace of melancholy and emotion appeared on Mason’s face.
“There’s just one thing I really have to tell you, Red. Maybe—and I do mean maybe—it’s because you raised Liz and the others to be useless. From what those two said, what kind of Vice-Captain were you in Dawnblade? You were basically their mother…”
“Whether the matter was big or small, you were the one to handle it. Do you have four arms and eight legs? Even a donkey on a production team didn’t do as much work as you.”
“What I can’t figure out even more is… even though you were like that, that stupid girl Liz still complained about you. Forget me—even a donkey would have gotten angry and kicked her.”
Facing Mason’s slightly exaggerated tone, Red laughed in spite of himself.
“Is it really that exaggerated?”
“Of course! And as far as I know, you grew up with her, right? How did you put up with her spoiled temper for so long?”
Red shook his head at Mason’s question.
“Precisely because I understood her personality so well, and because I once had feelings for her, I did my best to help her. In other words… do you think I’m a fool? After being with her for so long, how could I not see that she’s a tsundere who says one thing but feels another?”
Mason certainly knew how sharp Red’s insight was, but he had to object to one thing.
“Uh… I think your definition of a tsundere might be a bit off.”
Red didn’t pay much attention to Mason’s rebuttal; he simply sighed.
“But even though I knew her heart, after being together for so long, I still felt incredibly exhausted and weary. Moreover, after entering the Dungeon, perhaps the high-pressure environment made her personality even worse. Coupled with what happened on the Twenty-Third Floor, I chose to leave…”
At this point, Red shook his head, pushing those annoying thoughts to the back of his mind.
“But there’s no point in talking about this anymore. I’ve already left Dawnblade. Now I’m just a small figure who doesn’t even qualify as an Adventurer… We’ve gathered enough mushrooms. Let’s go back.”
Mason wanted to say something else, but seeing Red’s carefree expression, he closed his mouth.
He could only sigh emotionally in his heart.
‘Pick it up, put it down.’
Six simple words, yet they described something the vast majority of people could not achieve.
Red had indeed let go of the past, but what about Liz?
When would she be able to let go?
Or… would she live the rest of her life in regret?
***
The matters in the Dungeon had absolutely nothing to do with Letia on the surface.
She had spent the last few days slacking off with a clear conscience.
It was just that without any entertainment, life was a bit dull and tedious.
After all, this world didn’t have things like smartphones; there were only Communicator Crystals that were comparable to bulky old mobile phones.
Even so, time passed in the blink of an eye, just like a Past Life Worker’s Golden Week.
Five days had gone by.
When the warm morning sunlight filtered through the curtains and fell on Letia’s bare legs, she reluctantly struggled out of her sleep.
She blinked blankly and looked around.
Then, like an ostrich refusing to face reality, she suddenly flipped over and buried her face deep into her pillow.
‘I don’t want to get up, I don’t want to get up, I don’t want to get up…’
Like a vengeful spirit sealed in a coffin, she let out muffled, curse-filled mumblings.
‘Why can’t I live the life of a young master, sleeping from 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM, and then from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM?’
Living alone was already dull and boring.
The thought of having to transform into Litt and endure that tedious Ritual for who knows how long made her even more frustrated.
Knock, knock, knock…
But work was like a death-omened bell.
Ella’s voice sounded from outside.
“Letia, the Ritual is ready.”
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